Miller Urges Nixon to Respond Affirmatively to Israel’s Request for Military Aid

Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the American Zionist Federation, expressed “profound concern” in a letter to President Nixon today “at reports of our government’s failure to respond affirmatively to the threat of Israel’s security and its deterrent military capacity by delaying action on Israel’s latest request for military assistance.” Stating that he was writing on behalf of the AZF’s 700,000 members, Rabbi Miller warned that the new Soviet-Egyptian treaty of friendship and cooperation “was aimed at the United States and the free world as much as it was aimed at Israel.” “In light of these latest developments,” Rabbi Miller wrote, “it would be disastrous for our government to attempt to pressure Israel into making any concessions to Egypt by any actions or threats, real or implied, of postponing additional arms shipments and economic aid. Such actions would violate your own explicit statements of American policy that the arms balance would be maintained, that there would never be an imposition of peace terms upon Israel, and the interests of peace would be served by negotiations entered into by the parties to the conflict.” Rabbi Miller called on Nixon to “honor those words now so that the enemies of Israel will know full well that support of Israel and the attainment of a true peace are policies and objectives which remain constant on the part of the United States and are not subject to erosion or attrition.”